Airlock Q

A dumb newbee question, do I take to little red cover off the airlock before fermentation?

Keep it on while you still have it. It does help keep some of the liquid in the airlock during active fermentation, as well as keep bugs out, etc.

That being said, I’ve lost most of mine but the airlock will still do what it’s supposed to do.

Thank You

never dumb questions…:relaxed: When lost, tin foil will help too! Sneezles61

And don’t ever attempt to boil it in an attempt to sterelize it… it will melt the cap. It happened to me. So much for a dumb newbie question, I’ll give you a dumb newbie response to make you feel better!

Thanks, I thought gases had to escape through the airlock

I use the S-style air lock. Has a clear plastic cap with small holes to keep fruit flies and small crawlies out. Seems like your cap should be the same because CO2 does need to escape to prevent a pressure build up. I can’t think of a reason for the cap not to have holes. I would make some holes with a sewing needle if there aren’t any.

Dont forget to fill the airlock with water. Only to the fill line

I do like the 3 piece airlock

The caps are not air tight and as said just to keep stuff out so leave it on. I also substitute aluminum foil after the cap gets lost.

Some of us use cheap vodka in the air lock rather than water so there is less worry if the temp drops and it gets sucked into the fermenter. I used just water for a long time with no problems but the vodka gives you a warm fuzzy feeling that there is one less thing to go wrong.

Some day you will get a really violent fermentation and have to go on an Easter egg hunt looking for that cap that blew off.

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^^^^ thats why now I stay with the blow off hose assembly. Just seems tho, sometimes I do forgit to pull the hose off the fermenter and not out of the fluid lock bottle…. You hear the splash in the fermenter and yer stomach gits a knot in it.:disappointed: Sneezles61

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